Closuring of containers



0, 1968 w. H. WYARD ETAL 3 ,397,510

CLOSURING OF CONTAINERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 19, 1965 I d s a w NWJL u .6 my 2 v WW x wa A n Z 4. 0 WJ United States Patent 3,397,510 CLOSURING 0F CONTAINERS Walter Harvie Wyard, Worcester, and John Charles Hill,

London, England, assignors to The Metal Box Company Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Jan. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 426,535 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 5, 1964, 4,948/64 3 Claims. (Cl. 53341) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a closing head suitable for the application of closures to jars or like containers. The head comprises a sleeve terminating in a lower closure ring having camming surfaces formed thereon for the inwardly camming of the peripheral skirt .of the closure. A closure contacting plunger is mounted within the sleeve and is biased downwardly by a spring-biasing member which acts upon the aforementioned plunger through a universal joint. Stop means within the sleeve lie in blocking relationship to the plunger and comprise the only means for maintaining the plunger within the sleeve.

This invention relates to the closuring of containers and in particular to a closing head for securing to the mouth end of a container, for example a bottle or a jar, a closure cap consisting of a flat crown and a depending annular skirt.

According to the invention there is provided a closing head for the purpose mentioned above, wherein the head is connectable with actuating means operable to effect axial movement of the head relative to a container stationary on a support therefor and having a cap loosely applied to the mouth end thereof, said head during axial movement thereof towards the support being arranged to effect mechanical engagement of the cap skirt with the exterior sides of the mouth end of the container and to deform the crown about the mouth rim of the container into a panelled depression which is of lesser diameter than the internal diameter of the mouth rim and extends into the mouth of the container.

The closing head may comprise a hollow housing, one end of which is connectable with said actuating means, a closing sleeve connected to said housing for movement therewith and having the free end thereof formed as a ring arranged to effect said mechanical engagement between the skirt and the sides of the mouth end of the container, a cap crown deforming member located in the closing sleeve for axial movement therewith and relative thereto, said member having a stop face to determine the extent of movement of said member into said mouth end, and a spring located in said housing and sleeve and acting on said member to effect the deformation of the cap crown. Said member may be provided with an annular rib to effect said deformation of the crown.

The spring may act on said member through a pad element and a rigid ball located between said member and pad.

Mechanical engagement between the skirt and the mouth end of the container may be eifected between a projection or projections extending from the exterior sides of the mouth end of the container and a continuous curl formed at the free edge of the cap skirt and said ring may have an interior surface including a tapering leading end portion to engage a part at least of the free edge portion of the skirt and to move it into engagement with the undersides of the projection or projections.

The mouth end of the container may be provided with an annular bead which is spaced from the mouth rim ice end from which emanate multi-start screw threads which extend towards the mouth rim and said ring may be arranged to cause contiguous portions of the curl respectively to be compressed against the faces of said threads and to be engaged beneath the threads.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional elevation of a closing head according to the invention;

FIGURES 2 and 3 illustrate the mode of operation of the closing head; and

FIGURE 4 illustrates the top of one form of jar to which a closure cap can be secured by the closing head.

Referring to the drawings, the closing head comprises a hollow housing 1 to one end of which is screwed an adaptor 2 for connection to a closuring machine, (not shown but of any suitable known kind), which includes actuating means operable to effect axial movement of the closing head relative to a container, for example a jar 3, stationary on a support 4, FIGURE 2, and having a cap 5 loosely applied to the mouth end thereof. A closing sleeve 6 is connected to the housing 1 for movement therewith and the free end of the sleeve is formed as a ring 7 which is arranged to effect mechanical engagement between the skirt 8 of the cap and the sides of the mouth end of the container.

A cap crown deforming member 9 is located in the sleeve 6 for axial movement therewith and relative thereto and has an annular rib 10 to effect deformation of the fiat crown 11, FIGURE 2, of the cap about the mouth rim 12 of the container into a panelled depression 13, FIG- URE 3, which extends into the mouth of the container and is of a diameter less, preferably only slightly less, than the internal diameter of the mouth rim 12. A stop face 14 extends laterally from the rib 10 to determine the extent of movement of the rib 10 into the mouth end of the container, and the stop face 14 preferably slopes slightly in a downward direction from the rib 10 towards the tapered leading end portion 15 provided on the interior surface of the ring 7. A spring 16 located in the housing and sleeve acts on the deforming member 9 to effect deformation of the cap crown. In the preferred embodiment of the closing head the spring 16 acts on the member 9 through a pad element 17 and a rigid ball 18, for example a steel ball, which is located between the member 9 and pad element 17 and is engaged in recesses 19, 20 formed respectively in the member 9 and pad element 17. The provision of the pad element 17 permits the predetermined pressure exerted by the spring 16 to be evenly applied to the member 9 even though the member 9 may be caused to wobble by irregularities in the mouth rim of the container.

The container shown as being closured in FIGURES 2 and 3 is of the the kind illustrated in FIGURE 4. This container has a mouth end provided with an annular bead 21 which is spaced from the mouth rim 12 and from which emanate multi-start screw-threads 22 which extend towards the mouth rim 12. The closure cap has a continuous curl 23 formed at the free edge of the skirt. Containers and container closures suitable for use with the closing head herein described may be any of a number of well known configurations, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. However, the closing head herein described is particularly suitable for the application of a closure to a jar such as that shown in FIGURE 4. The closure 5, shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, may take on any of a number of well known closure configurations such as, for example, the closure configuration shown in the United States Patent No. 3,273,303 to J. C. Hill, dated Sept. 20, 1966.

In operation, a container 3 with a closure cap 5 loosely applied to the month end thereof is stood on the support 4 beneath the closing head and the head is then moved axially downwards towards the support 4. As the head moves downwards the cap crown deforming memb r 9 moves therewith until the rib 10 is engaged with the flat crown of the cap, FIGURE 2. During continued downward movement of the head spring 16 causes the rib 10 to deform the crown about the mouth rim 12 of the container to form the panelled depression 13, FIGURE 3, and the depth of the panelled depression is determined by the engagement of the stop face 14 with that portion of the cap crown which is disposed directly above the mouth rim 12, FIGURE 3. As the head continues to move downwards the tapered leading end portion 15 of the ring 7 causes contiguous portions of the curl 23 respectively to be compressed against the faces of the multistart screw threads 22 and to engage beneath the threads to provide for screw-off removal of the closure. When the container employed comprises multi-start screw threads 22 as seen in FIGURE 4, the final configuration of the peripheral skirt of the closure 5 conforms to the outer periphery of the container 3 in a manner well known in the art. Again, the configuration of the downwardly depending peripheral skirt portion 8 will depend upon which of a number of known closure configurations are used as exemplified in the aforementioned United States Patent No. 3,273,303. Holes 24 are provided in the member 9 to prevent the possibility of suction between the crown of the cap and the face of member 9.

The container illustrated in FIGURE 4 is an example of a container in which mechanical engagement between the cap skirt and the mouth end of the container is effected between a plurality of projections, being the threads 22, but it is to be understood that in some instances the container may have a single continuous projection, such as a rib or bead, extending around the exterior of the month end and with which the cap skirt is caused to make mechanical engagement.

In the foregoing description the cap crown deforming member 9 has been described as provided with an annular rib 10 for effecting deformation of the crown but if desired the deformation may be effected by a projection extending from the member 9 and having a flat face into which the holes 24 extend.

By deforming the crown of the cap about the mouth rim of the container in the manner herein described it is possible to effect a considerable intimacy of seal between the cap and the mouth rim of the container and to seal off greater container irregularities than has hitherto be n possible. This facility is increased in instances in which the cap contains a sealing compound because the compound tends to be wrapped round the rim by the closing process.

In some instances containers are, in known manner, subjected to vacuum processing .after the caps have been fully applied to the containers and this has necessitated the use of caps specially designed to valve or vent during the heat-treatment process so as to allow the cap to fractionally lift to permit gases to be driven off from the product for the purpose of improving shelf-life. By deforming the crown of the cap during the closing operation as herein described, the panelling of the crown relieves the stress in the material of the cap and the removal of this stress allows the cap to valve during vacuum processing for the purpose above mentioned. It will accordingly be understood that by using a closing head as herein described it is possible to effect vacuum processing of closed containers by the known methods without the necessity of providing caps specially designed for this purpose as heretofore. When the closed container is to be subjected to vacuum processing it is preferred that the depth of the rib 10 be within the range of from 0.015 to 0.030 inch.

We claim:

1. A closing head for securing a closure to a container body comprising an outer sleeve terminating in a closure ring having inwardly extending stop means formed therein, plunger means mounted within said sleeve having a closure contacting portion normally extending into said ring and an outwardly extending flange portion overlyingly contacting said stop means, spring means mounted within said sleeve for normally biasing said outwardly extending flange portion into contact with said stop means, and a universal joint directly intermediate said spring means and said plunger means, said universal joint including a plate-like member closely proximate and parallel to said plunger means flange portion and at an opposite side thereof from said stop means, a ball lying centrally between and contacting both said plunger means and said plate-like member, said spring means being in contact with said plate-like member on the opposite side thereof from said ball and at points proximate the edge of said plate-like member, a periphery of said flange portion being normally spaced from an adjacent inner surface portion of said sleeve, and a periphery of said closure contacting portion being of a frusto-conical configuration narrowing downwardly in a direction away from said universal joint and said flange portion in the normal position of the latter whereby said universal joint allows pivotal movement of said plunger means upon the removal of said outwardly extending flange portion from contact with said stop means.

2. The closing head as defined in claim 1 wherein said closure contacting portion further includes venting openings formed therein.

3. The closing head as defined in claim 2 wherein said closure contacting portion includes axially downwardly protruding closure deformation means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,956,214 4/1934 Booth 53355 X 2,015,913 10/1935 Von Sydow et a1. 53306 X 2,112,842 4/1938 Hogg 5342 3,273,303 9/1966 Hill 5342 1,244,494 10/ 1917 Hammer 53341 FOREIGN PATENTS 213,727 7/1960 Austria.

542,826 12/ 1955 Belgium.

550,392 9/1956 Belgium.

349,502 11/1960 Switzerland.

WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

R. L. FARRIS, Assistant Examiner. 

